I felt weightless, like my feet didn’t even touch the ground.

…Mostly because, they barely did.

I shivered at first when his huge hands went to my waist, holding me tight. But I slowly, let go of the fear. Slowly, I started to ignore that part of me that was terrified at this dark, brooding man and the fierce reputation he carried, and started to warm to the part of me that was drawn to him like a magnet.

He was beyond strong - his thick, muscled arms, broad shoulders, and powerful chest enveloping me as he pulled me close. But the minute his hands held me, I knew I was safe. I knew he wouldn’t hurt me, despite the rumors.

Actually, I’d never felt so safe.

I could feel his muscles rippling as we danced, the power in those arms, the way his chest bulged under his tuxedo. My pulse raced faster and faster as the small string ensemble in the corner waltzed us around the ballroom. I knew Ilana, and Imogen, and Adele, and really, lots of people were looking at us, him being who he was and all, but I stopped caring.

He made me forget.

We twirled, moving closer, his hand tightening on my body, and I delighted in the thrill that brought with it. I allowed myself to let go and move close to him, feeling the way his muscles rippled and inhaling the masculine scent of him.

The way my head spun.

The way my pulse fluttered.

The way the heat pooled slick and forbidden between my legs.

Maybe it was the danger. Maybe it was that everyone said he was such a beast. Maybe it was how big and strong he was, or maybe it was the darkness surrounding him.

Whatever it was, it sparked something inside of me.

Big time.

One song moved into another, and I realized my eyes hadn’t left his for at least three of them. He flashed his teeth at me — half a grin, half an animalistic smile, and I felt something forbidden flutter inside of me

I wanted him to kiss me so bad it hurt — as much as I knew that couldn’t happen. Besides him being him, of course it couldn’t happen here, in my father’s castle at the ball.

“You’re not scared of me,” he growled, not so much a question as it was an observation.

I wet my lips with my tongue, watching the way his jaw tightened as I did.

“Should I be?”

“Perhaps a little,” he said softly, his voice edged enough to make the butterflies go nuts in my belly. I gasped as his hands tightened on me, pulling me close to him. Actually, we were far closer than we should have been, just dancing  like this at a formal ball, but I didn’t care. I felt my breath catch as I felt his thick, hard body press against mine, my breasts pressed to his abdomen, my eyes level with that muscled chest.

He spun me, and my heart leapt, my skin tingling as I let myself sink into him. I could feel that hot pulse between my legs again, the raw, animalistic masculinity of him like some sort of drug I was immediately hooked on.

This was new to me. This was leagues beyond anything I’d ever experienced. I’d been to plenty of balls, of course, but no one had ever put their hands on me like this.

No one had pulled me this close, or this tight to them.

No one had ever made my heart skip a beat like this.

I could feel my nipples hardening under my gown, my panties slowly getting warmer, and wetter as I felt his hands tighten on me, his muscles rippling as we danced. And then I felt something else. I felt something hard pressing into my belly.

I bit my lip to stifle the moan, because as inexperienced and as sheltered as I was — I knew what I was feeling. There were, of course, other rumors about Prince Logan besides being cursed. Specifically, rumors about the part of him that was the stuff of gossipy legend.

Maybe not so much a legend as true, I thought with as sudden terribly naughty and thrilling thought as I felt his hardness pulsing like a muscle against my body.

I could feel him growl, just barely, into my ear as he spun me again, his cock getting harder and harder, and bigger and — dear lord — bigger against me. My head spun, my whole body was on fire for him, wanting him to touch me, to take me, and knowing how wrong and how dangerous, and how un-princessly this was only fueled the fire.

“Come with me,” he suddenly growled, as if reading my thoughts.

“Where?”

“Away from these fucking people,” he said darkly, his hand tightening on mine as he turned and suddenly pulled me access the dance floor towards the doorway without even waiting for me to say yes or no to his demand.

We exited the ballroom into a darkened hallway, only one dim chandelier glowing and casting long shadows, and only one guard standing post by the double French doors out to one of the many ivy-covered terraces of the castle.

“Leave us,” Logan snarled.

The man almost came apart, but I do have to give my father’s guards credit, he did stand his ground, if barely.

“Sir—”

“NOW,” Logan bellowed, his hand tightening on mine.

The man stumbled, his eyes darting to me.

“Princess—”

“You may leave us, Captain,” I said with a small, shy smile, knowing it meant I’d be all alone with Prince Logan and his darkness.

The guard nodded, turned, and scurried down the hallway and around a corner.

“This way, Princess,” Logan husked, pulling me out the doors into the warm night air. The doors were barely shut when he spun me around, making me gasp loudly.

He pulled me into him, my feet actually leaving the ground as he growled fiercely and push me back until my back was pressed against the ivy covered wall of the closed in terrace with him right against me. His breath was hot on my neck, the growl in his throat rumbling through me. His hands held me so tight like I couldn’t get away, even if I wanted to.

And I didn’t

Just the same, I trembled under the ferocity of him, the adrenaline spiking through me as he loomed over.

“Prince Log—”

“I can’t restrain myself around you, Princess,” he rasped into my ear, making me shiver and moan as he pressed himself against me. I could feel that thickness pulsing hard against my soft belly, the heat of him radiating through me.

“You’ve heard the rumors.”

“What— what rumors,” I whispered.

He pulled back, one big hand cupping my jaw, gazing into my eyes.

“You’ve heard them, I know.”

I faltered before swallowing and holding his gaze. “Yes, I have,” I said softly.

“And what do they say?”

“I’d rather not—”

“Tell me what they—”

“That you’re a beast!”

I gasped, covering my mouth the second I said it.

But Logan only half-smiled.

“And what do you think, Princess Isla?”

“What should I think, Prince Logan?”

He growled. “I’ll ask you again. Are you scared of me?”

I trembled, taking a small breath as my body pulsed against his.

“Only a little.”

“Good, I like your honesty, beautiful,” he said gruffly. “You shouldn’t be scared though. Even with what they say.”

I bit my lip. “I know it’s all rumor—”

“It’s not.”

His eyes burned into me fiercely.

“There’s a curse on me, that’s no rumor.”

I stared at him, my mouth slightly open, my eyes wide. “A real curse?”

“Yes. One that’s darkened my days and turned me into the shadow of a man who stands before you today. But the second I saw you, Princess…”

His voice was strained.

“The second I saw you, I knew you might be the key to breaking that curse.”

His hands tightened on me, my pulse beating like a drum in my ears as I felt myself falling into him.

“My curse will only break with one woman, Princess,” he growled, his eyes burning right into mine. “And I’ve spent four damn years convincing myself she didn’t exist, until I stepped into this castle tonight and saw you.”

“Me?” I squeaked out, hating how stupid it sounded as it left my lips. But Logan didn’t seem to even notice, only pulling me tighter against him, and bringing his lips even closer to mine until I could feel my head swim with the nearness of him.

“There’s just something about you that shatters me. There’s something about you that breaks the chains I use to hold back the beast inside.”

He growled the words, his body tensing and his voice rough.

“I can’t control myself around you, Isla,” he whispered. “And that’s how I know you’re that one woman.”

He dipped his head, his lips almost touching mine, and I wanted so badly to kiss him — more than I’d ever wanted to kiss anyone in my whole life, but part of me was still scared of what might happen because of it. After all, this man was cursed — as in a actually cursed. And there was that darkness that shrouded him, the menacing black cloud that followed him everywhere.

There were the rumors of his anger — his unbridled temper and his ferocity. And yet, there on that terrace, held so delicately in his arms, I couldn’t imagine him hurting me.

…I could imagine him doing all sort of other things to me though.

“I’m going to ask you one last time, Princess,” my beast of a prince husked into my lips, his hand cupping my jaw.

“Are you scared of me?”

I swallowed thickly, feeling the heat pulsing through my body, feeling his nearness, and the thickness of his body pressing into me, and feeling the intensity of those eyes as they burned into me.

“Only a little,” I answered truthfully.

“Too scared for me to kiss you?”

“I—”

He didn’t wait for an answer, he just pulled my mouth to his, crushed his lips to mine, and claimed the kiss as his own.